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Johns Hopkins Info Re Advanced PCa

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Posted 4/9/2009 11:35 AM (GMT 0)
This report is from Johns Hopkins for anyone facing advanced PCa.

Tudpock

http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/reports/prostate_disorders/2940-1.html?ET=johnshopkins:e17387:260346a:&st=email&st=email&s=RPH_090409_005

Posted 4/9/2009 1:26 PM (GMT 0)
Tudpock, I can't seem to get that link to work.
Posted 4/9/2009 2:05 PM (GMT 0)

Try this..

http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/reports/prostate_disorders/2940-1.html?ET=johnshopkins:e17387:260346a:&st=email&st=email&s=RPH_090409_005

Posted 4/9/2009 4:05 PM (GMT 0)
Tudpock...nope that link doesn't work either
Posted 4/9/2009 5:28 PM (GMT 0)
COPY THE LINK PASTE IT IN YOUR UPPER WINDOW IT SHOULD WORK THEN

http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/reports/prostate_disorders/2940-1.html?ET=johnshopkins:e17387:260346a:&st=email&st=email&s=RPH_090409_005
Posted 4/9/2009 7:47 PM (GMT 0)
Just a note,

I was offerred Taxotere as an adjuvant treatment in a study by Sanofi-Adventis. The use of it as a salvage therapy is as stated above and can add several months even years to a mans life.  The clinical trial I alluded to was intended to see if Taxotere could improve suppression rates in Stage III high risk cases like mine.  I elected to not go into the study because it would have required that I skipped radiation, and also in part because I have played guitars for many years.  I had read where neuropathy would effectively end my work in music.  I was wrong about that, but not about the radiation piece.  Here is what Mike Scott recently blogged on the concept of adjuvant chemotherapy:

http://prostatecancerinfolink.net/2009/04/06/from-the-why-are-we-hearing-about-this-now-desk/

Tony

Posted 4/9/2009 7:48 PM (GMT 0)

I guess I am just dumber than a stump. rolleyes The following paragraph from the article indicates a three month survival benefit for taking a drug that has a serious impact on quality of life and at some cost I am sure. What am I missing that would have the medical community cheering for what appears to be a negligible benefit? (at least to me) ( I understand averages... like the old joke. A man has his feet in a fire and his head in a freezer but is quite comfortable on the average.)

"At least 50% of the patients who use the drug will get a remission of some duration. In the studies, the men who received Taxotere-based therapy lived, on average, about three months longer when compared to men who received the old drug combination of prednisone (a corticosteroid) and the cancer medication Novantrone (mitoxantrone), which was approved by the FDA in 1996 as a treatment for the pain of metastatic prostate cancer."

Don

Posted 4/9/2009 8:02 PM (GMT 0)
Tony,
I looked at the article you referenced but I am still mystified. When I was first diagnosed I asked my oncologist about chemotherapy. He was not in favor of it at the time and felt that HT was more applicable to my situtation. There was (maybe still is) a study going on that included all three treatments. RT, HT and CT. He asked if I was interested in doing the study and I replied that I would rather see where the first two took me.

Don
Posted 4/9/2009 9:23 PM (GMT 0)

Don

Chemo - is one of the next steps after hormone treatment stops working.  When we recently talked to my husbands oncologist about the Chemo treatment it was explained to us that the side effects with this type of chemo is not too bad - compared to standard chemo and also will help keep the tumor at bay and relieve some of the bone pain from the mets.  We will be deciding next month about Chemo or a stage 3 blind trial of Abereletone. 

Posted 4/9/2009 9:26 PM (GMT 0)
Great discussion. Everytime I read something like this it reminds that I will someday by refractory and have to make a decision of what to do next. In my personal research I do not like what taxotere has to offer at this point, however like Ohio said a drowing man will grab a sword. Thanks for this post and the responses it keeps all informed and does go to show that somewhere the medical community is still seeking new and better ways to treat this disease.

peace and love
dale
Posted 4/10/2009 3:23 PM (GMT 0)
I am not an advanced case, and I pray I never will, but know that I could one day. From reading about that particular chemo drug, I am not sure that I would want to deal with such severe side affects for a 50% chance of living 3 months longer. Or perhaps I missed the point of the article. If I were in an advanced stage, perhaps I would view it differently. Each of us at some point in our lives, whether it be with PC, or some other malady, will always have to weigh out quality of life vs. quantity of life. This article I found very somber and disturbing, but needed to be seen and read, I am thankful for all knowledge. If my PC comes back one day, I don't want to be caught as off guard as I was with my original dx. My best to all the advanced brothers here, same enemy, but much different fight and perspective on life.

David in SC
Posted 4/10/2009 4:33 PM (GMT 0)
You have to be careful in using average survival rates. In cancer 3-4 months extra is a big deal because survival follows a distribution curve. A few people will get no benefit and have zero and a few will get a lot of benefit 2-3 years and many will get 8-9 months. 3-4 months is an average not a mid point..
JohnT
Posted 4/10/2009 5:02 PM (GMT 0)
Couple things to respond:

Amy, Abiraterone is showing promise. I hope you draw the drug and not the placebo. My friend drew the placebo and had to opt out as his PSA continued a climb. The good news is that for every 3 people in the study 2 will get the drug and 1 the placebo.

Don, Most oncologists are not in favor of adjuvant chemotherapy with Taxotere. But that's what the study is about. With 3 to 19 months life extension as a salvage treatment, they are hoping to prove is more in the multi-years catagory as an immediate follow up to post prostatectomy high risk cases before relapse.

Having known a quite a few guys who were treated with Taxotere, I have learned that attitude helps when taking on chemotherapy. There is a degradation in QoL but many of the guys have fought through and done well and had good QoL with it. In the few guys I know that took on Taxotere right after surgery, they handled it better than those who went through the meriad of treatments that eventually failed. This I believe is because those treatments have there own long term side effects. There is much to be said for the possibility that early Taxotere is better than later Taxotere.

The available studies are trying to prove this. My oncologist believes that it is quite possible because he has already administere adjuvant chemotherapy and the early results have been strong.

Tony
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